Harold Ancart's landscape paintings emerge from his extensive travels and his deep engagement with the natural world, as seen through his explorations in paint. Ancart, a Belgian artist based in New York, utilizes his works as vessels for exploration, transporting viewers to landscapes that blend observed and imagined elements. His paintings, characterized by abstract color passages and often set in multipart tableaux, navigate between abstraction and figuration, allowing chance to shape their final form (Gagosian).
Ancart's fascination with landscapes is deeply rooted in his personal history of travel and exploration. From an early age, Ancart experienced the world from above, traveling extensively with his flight attendant mother. This unique perspective informed his abstracted relationship with landforms, influencing his artistic language. Ancart's artworks often embody a sense of freedom and movement, characteristics derived from his life as a perpetual traveler. He views each canvas as an uncharted territory, where both he and the viewer are invited to wander without a predetermined direction, embracing the unexpected and the transient (Interview Magazine) (David Zwirner).
In his exhibition "Traveling Light" at David Zwirner, New York, Ancart presented a series of works that reflect his contemplative approach to landscape painting. The exhibition featured pieces such as "The Mountain" and "The Sea," where Ancart played with the physicality of paint and the luminosity of color to evoke the ephemeral quality of light and the solidity of land and water. These works highlight his interest in the interplay between light and form, inviting viewers to lose themselves in the painterly dimension where everything is possible (David Zwirner).
Ancart's practice, although anchored in specific themes like trees, the horizon, or elemental forms, transcends simple representation. His landscapes serve as an "alibi" for painterly experimentation, focusing on the act of painting itself rather than the depiction of a particular scene. This approach allows for an open-ended exploration of color, texture, and composition, revealing the poetic potential of everyday surroundings (Gagosian).
Throughout his career, Ancart has maintained a dialogue with the history of American painting and abstraction, drawing influence from artists such as Richard Diebenkorn, Helen Frankenthaler, and Wayne Thiebaud. His work resonates with a deep appreciation for the natural world, viewed through the lens of his unique artistic vision and life experiences (Gagosian).